By Elias Hazou
Attorney-general Costas Clerides on Tuesday blew off criticism that he and his office are dragging their feet in the criminal probe into the causes of the 2013 financial meltdown.
The top lawman was responding to an article in daily Simerini claiming the Presidential Palace was unhappy with the slow pace of the investigations. By way of example, the paper said the Attorney-general’s office had yet to make up its mind on the purchase of hi-tech computer gear to assist in data-crunching.
In a statement, Clerides reiterated that it is the police, not his office, that are in charge of the probe. The involvement of the Attorney-general and his office is limited to efforts at boosting the numbers of the investigation team so as to speed up the criminal inquiry, he said.
Clerides said media reports of the like are attempting to “create impressions” by shifting responsibility onto his office for the lack of prosecutions so far.
Not long after taking office last year, Clerides had cautioned that prosecutions would be difficult as authorities need to build airtight cases that can hold up in court.
Regarding the intended acquisition of a computer server and specialised software – to be used for storing and cross-referencing information from thousands of documents, in this way speeding up investigations – Clerides confirmed that a decision for the purchase was taken during a prior meeting with senior police officials and the Department of Information Technology Services.
Following the decision, said Clerides, he addressed a letter to the police chief urging him to purchase the equipment as soon as possible.
The Attorney-general noted moreover that it is not his office but rather the police department that must procure the server.
“Media reports such as the one in question do nothing other than undermine the difficult task undertaken by the Attorney-general’s office,” the statement ended.
Picking up on Clerides’ comments, opposition AKEL said they were disconcerting as they smacked of an attempt by the Attorney-general to wash his hands of any responsibility.
The fact the Attorney-general was shifting the onus onto the police was also not a good sign, AKEL said.
The scope of the police inquiry covers the expansion into Greece, banks’ corporate governance, Cypriot banks’ purchase of junk Greek bonds, and how now-defunct Laiki Bank came to amass some €9b in emergency liquidity, a liability since passed onto the Bank of Cyprus.
Cypriot authorities were forced to seize uninsured deposits at its two main banks in March 2013 to qualify for €10b in aid from international lenders, the first time bank savers were burned in the euro zone crisis.
Problems on Cyprus snowballed into the winding-down of Laiki Bank under a mountain of debt and a large chunk of deposits exceeding €100,000 being converted to equity to prop up Bank of Cyprus.
Cypriot banks lost about €4.5b when European Union leaders agreed in late 2011 to a Greek debt write-down, designed to make that country’s debt burden more sustainable.
